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*** OMT: Spurs vs Sunderland*** Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Sunday 4th January, 3pm

Thought the first half was excellent and the second half poor. Credit to Sunderland. Dunno what they did specifically but they dominated us second half.

Tel was very good. Odobert was very good. Thought the defenders were excellent. Bentancur was the standout for me.

It’s disappointing to not win but we didn’t deserve to on the balance of the 90 mins. I’d love to understand what changed tactically second half. I suspect it was more what they did than us sitting back.

Can’t blame the Pahlinha sub either. They were well on top long before he came on.

I guess the worrying thing is that I couldn’t see a player who would produce a bit of magic for us a la Ginola, Bale, Berbatov, Keane, Kane, Son etc. We literally do not have a match winner in our team.

My other criticism is how often we try to move it into wide areas for a cross. It’s way too slow at times and we’d be much better trying to get through the middle or having a pop from distance.

So a very mixed day but I’m much happier than I was against Brentford and even Palace probably.
 
A really frustrating result after what was probably one of our best performances under Frank in the first half. The inability to get the 2nd goal when on top really cost us and there were plenty of opportunities to do so with a bit more quality or better decision making. I wonder had Kudus had not been injured whether that could have been the difference today. Muani really showed his limitations in that position as Kudus's replacement and bought nothing to the table as has been the case for most of his time here.

Was sure Sunderland would improve after half time and put us under pressure. The big disappointment was that there was no period in the 2nd half where it felt like we managed to take back control from them and whilst we still had a number of opportunities to break there was a sense their goal was coming.

Some positives if we can take the first half performance into the rest of the season but pretty deflating as its 2 points dropped and although that's now 3 unbeaten it feels like a bit of a momentum killer with a tough away game against Bournemouth up next.
 
balesleftboot said:
I was at work whilst the game was on so only watching it now.. The thing is we don't get behind the team even when it's going well. I'm watching the 1st half atm, we are 1 up and playing well yet still it sounds like a library there. Compare that to somewhere like Elland Road.

The 12th man is a real thing yet we don't use it at all.

So whilst I get the frustrations it seems crazy to me that they're quiet all game when it's going well but the moment it goes wrong they find their voices.
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The fans do have general bursts of "Come on you Spurs", etc. I get the feeling it's ingrained into their psyche that the team won't get the job done and more often than not they don't. It's built-in disappointment that spills out at the end, rightly or wrongly.
 
Raziel said:
I have no problem with Palhinha, I don't want him playing with Bentancur trying to see out a 1 goal margin with 30 mins to go. Legs/running is a huge part of the PL (especially this season), it's why United with a 200M front line are still brick (their midfield can't run).

I think the game showed he was wrong, we play attacking, it helps our defense, we sit back to hold a lead, it invites pressure and it cost us. Sure if we had Kane/Son the game would have been dead in first half, but we don't.
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What subs was he supposed to make? Odobert and Gray were running on fumes and had to come off.
 
suffolkspur said:
. The inability to get the 2nd goal when on top really cost us and there were plenty of opportunities to do so with a bit more quality or better decision making.
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Exactly my thinking today, plenty of times one decent pass and we could have been in with a goal scoring oppurtunity, when Richy was in the clear 2nd half a prime example, unfortunately our players just don't seem to have that quality to make those passes.
 
yiddo37 said:
The fans do have general bursts of "Come on you Spurs", etc. I get the feeling it's ingrained into their psyche that the team won't get the job done and more often than not they don't. It's built-in disappointment that spills out at the end, rightly or wrongly.
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During the second half, I genuinely thought the crowd hadn’t been bad because the vibe was muted but kinda positive. Think I was just relieved that there was no abuse or real negativity around me.

Wasn’t particularly loud though. Sunderland fans were decent I thought.
 
I watched the second half so missed the first, but I'm glad to hear we were better. Tel is a player waiting to happen, just needs minutes and belief from the management.

Instagram Shock Jocks are peddling the Frank out rhetoric, it's so boring, and such a shame that young kids getting into football can't be more positive - he's clearly got a project ahead and we are likely to have some tough days ahead if the club follow Vinai' previous approach and tough it out while the structure is built.
 
Bishop said:
No they booed Frank. I was there and you could hear them gearing up for it. They even Booed Frank's name at the start when the lineup was announced.

He's basically a dead man walking amongst the match going fans at this point. It's win games or or nothing now.
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Contemplating chucking it in myself tbh - the fanbase has become disgusting since moving to the new stadium.
 
SirPercyHotspur said:
Exactly my thinking today, plenty of times one decent pass and we could have been in with a goal scoring oppurtunity, when Richy was in the clear 2nd half a prime example, unfortunately our players just don't seem to have that quality to make those passes.
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We just seemed to delay the pass by a second or two too late. The Richy one when he tried to find Muani was a prime example. If he had released it a moment earlier i'm not sure the pass gets blocked and Muani is on for a tap in. Whether he manages to control it is another thing!
 
Lively but wasteful first half, too passive again in the second period. It had late equaliser written all over it (as I had just finished typing to my mate on my phone, and they scored before I could hit 'send').
 
suffolkspur said:
We just seemed to delay the pass by a second or two too late. The Richy one when he tried to find Muani was a prime example. If he had released it a moment earlier i'm not sure the pass gets blocked and Muani is on for a tap in. Whether he manages to control it is another thing!
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Relying on Richi to be creative is the first issue though, he's very patchy in that regard. Seems to have sorted his fitness and scoring, but he's never been a 10 assists a season sort of player.
 
Raziel said:
It is, because it shows how close we can be, but the guy doesn't get it.

The game was lost when he went to Bentancur/Palhinha pivot, you don't think that's on him?
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I don’t agree with idea that sitting back invites pressure, any more than I agree with the idea that pressing with intensity and a high line leaves us open at the back. It’s a team game and there are trade offs and opportunities both ways with doing each thing.

The way I saw the game was that we intended to have a strong first half, get ahead, and then hit them on the break. Up until about 5-10 mins before their goal, it was working perfectly. We simply had to convert one of the chances we had in the second half and then we would have seen the game out. That’s on the players.

Then when they scored, the players were tiring / Sunderland started throwing caution to the wind. And I think Micky just fudged it for us to be honest. He was either being lazy or more likely just knackered for whatever reason. But being miles off your nearest man, or throwing a lazy leg at a cross. That’s not on Frank.
 
Surfless said:
Relying on Richi to be creative is the first issue though, he's very patchy in that regard. Seems to have sorted his fitness and scoring, but he's never been a 10 assists a season sort of player.
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I don’t think we need to rely on him to be creative. We just need him to make the pass that any international football is more than capable of making. That failure to find RKM was just bad execution, nothing to do with what type of player he is.
 
SissokoWasGood (BoL) said:
I don’t agree with idea that sitting back invites pressure, any more than I agree with the idea that pressing with intensity and a high line leaves us open at the back. It’s a team game and there are trade offs and opportunities both ways with doing each thing.

The way I saw the game was that we intended to have a strong first half, get ahead, and then hit them on the break. Up until about 5-10 mins before their goal, it was working perfectly. We simply had to convert one of the chances we had in the second half and then we would have seen the game out. That’s on the players.

Then when they scored, the players were tiring / Sunderland started throwing caution to the wind. And I think Micky just fudged it for us to be honest. He was either being lazy or more likely just knackered for whatever reason. But being miles off your nearest man, or throwing a lazy leg at a cross. That’s not on Frank.
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Agree with your assessment. As for VDV he is exciting to watch, but I don't think he's a great defender. I actually think Danso is a better defender than him, with our problems at LB I really would have thought it was worth playing VDV there and Danso CB....
 
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